Industry News
owned subsidiary, Think Solar USA, to de- ing capacity of 330 MW at Phase 1, using division dedicated to helping companies
sign, build, sell and deploy solar-based elec- amorphous silicon thin-film technology. identify financial resources and manage
tricity and process heat systems throughout Late last year, Air Products also signed a projects. In addition to its robust portfolio
the continent. David Freund, the president turnkey gas supply contract to provide on- of current projects, the company expects
of Think Solar USA, also serves as the vice site, liquid bulk gases, specialty gases and rapid growth through stimulus funded
president of business development for W2 gas equipment to Best Solar which is also opportunities and its membership in the
Energy. Think Solar USA is developing building a new thin-film PV facility in the President’s Club of the National Black
several proprietary technologies in order to Wuzhong Economic Development Park Chamber of Commerce. “We expect to
efficiently turn solar power into electricity in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. The help other companies create jobs and
and process heat, including a line of para- capacities of both Best Solar’s Suzhou and benefit from the expansive financing soon
bolic solar collectors and heat exchangers Nanchang facilities will be 330MW. to be available through the $800 billion
to turn solar heat into steam and rotary www.airproducts.com, www.bestsolarco.com dollar stimulus bill which includes tens of
steam engines for turning that steam into billions for alternative energy,” said Eddie
electricity. www.thinksolarusa.com hoku and alex New energy sign Austin, chairman and CEO of Sunrise
ten-year polysilicon supply Solar Corp. “We expect the stimulus grants
Sixtron receives initial $1.5M agreement to act as a booster rocket to the already
funding from SDTc Hoku Materials and Shanghai Alex New
rapidly growing solar industry.”
Sixtron Advanced Materials has completed Energy Company, Ltd. (Alex), a manu-www.sunrisesolarcorp.com
the contracting phase with Sustainable facturer of crystalline silicon solar cells,
Development Technology Canada (SDTC), modules and photovoltaic products, have entech Solar enters into agreement
an arm’s-length, not-for-profit corporation signed a definitive $178M contract for with Fraunhofer uSa’s center for
created by the Government of Canada, and Hoku’s sale and delivery of polysilicon to Sustainable energy Systems
has received an initial $1.5M in funding. Alex over a ten-year period beginning in Entech Solar has entered into a research
The contract formalization between SDTC early 2010. www.alex-newenergy.com contract with Fraunhofer USA’s Center
and Sixtron follows the July 2008 an- for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) to
nouncement by SDTC to approve project gintech subsidiary to market evaluate the feasibility of incorporating
funding to Sixtron. The mission of SDTC own-brand pV modules high-efficiency back-contact silicon solar
is to support the development and demon- Gintech Energy, a Taiwan-based maker of cells into Entech’s 20x concentrating solar
stration of clean technologies in Canada crystalline silicon solar cells, has estab- systems. Fraunhofer CSE will, in conjunc-
by providing funding to bridge the gap lished a subsidiary, Apos Energy Corpora- tion with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar
between research and commercialization tion, specifically for marketing crystalline Energy Systems (ISE), simulate, design, and
for projects that benefit both the environ- silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules under test prototype back-contact silicon solar
ment and the economy. www.sixtron.com, Apos’s own brand. Apos has started opera- cells with the goal of providing a cell with www.sdtc.ca tion with the US being the main market significantly greater efficiency than those
initially, reported Digitimes of Taiwan. Entech currently uses. Fraunhofer will
pI Berlin ag expands to meet In order to avoid conflict of interest with also make recommendations related to the
demands of uS photovoltaic market Gintech’s clients that assemble solar cells future mass production of such high-effi-
Photovoltaik Institut Berlin AG (PI Berlin) into PV modules, Apos will outsource pro- ciency back-contact cells for use in Entech’s
has received accreditation as an official duction of modules and focus its operation products. Fraunhofer CSE will utilize its
ISO/IEC testing laboratory for the photo- on own-brand marketing through coopera- recently established solar development and
voltaics (PV) industry. Widely recognized tion with Gintech. www.gintech.comtw test laboratory in Cambridge, Massachu-
in Europe for its reliability testing and engi- setts, in conjunction with Fraunhofer ISE’s
neering analysis, the independent firm is Nanogram corporation and Teijin facility in Freiburg, Germany, Europe’s
expanding to meet the growing demand of limited enter printed silicon TDa largest solar research facility. www.
the U.S. market and confirmed U.S. mod- NanoGram Corporation, has entered entechsolar.com
ule manufacturer, Solaria Corporation, as into a technology development agreement
its first customer in North America. www. (TDA) with Teijin Limited to further Dow corning names solar cell pi-berlin.com develop NanoGram’s printed silicon ink. science and technology manager
The TDA will focus on extending Nano- Dow Corning has named Dr. Guy Beau-
air products signs loI with china’s Gram’s printed silicon ink technology for carne solar cell science and technology
Best Solar use with Teijin’s flexible substrates. The manager for its solar market business unit,
Air Products has signed a letter of intent ink-substrate package targets light, flexible which provides silicon-based solutions
(LOI) to provide liquid bulk and on-site and printed electronics applications includ- throughout the entire photovoltaic value
gases to China’s Best Solar Hi Tech Co., ing flat panel display backplanes and thin chain. He will be based at Dow Corning’s
Ltd, which is building a new thin-film film photovoltaics (TFPV). www.nanogram. European headquarters in Belgium. Dr.
photovoltaic facility in Nanchang City, com, www.teijin.co.jp Beaucarne joins Dow Corning with more
Jiangxi Province, China. The LOI between than a decade of experience in solar pho-
Air Products and Best Solar includes the Sunrise Solar founds energy tovoltaics. Previously, he held a number of
long-term supply of hydrogen, nitrogen, resources consulting division roles at the Interuniversity Microelectron-
helium and argon gases. With opportunities for solar energy about ics Centre (IMEC), including as leader of
When Best Solar’s facility in Nanchang to explode with billions of dollars of the Solar Cell Technology group in the
comes on-stream at its full capacity, it will stimulus money coming down the pipeline, Solar and Organic Technologies depart-
have an annual solar module manufactur- Sunrise Solar has formed a new operating ment. www.dow-corning.com
38 – Global Solar Technology – May/June 2009www.globalsolartechnology.comPage 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44